Melton footballer targets MLS after landing $500k soccer scholarship

Exciting young footballer Jordan Forrester is trying his luck Stateside after winning a prized scholarship at an American university.

The 19-year-old jets off to the USA on August 10 to begin a four-year scholarship at James Madison University, in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he hopes to put a luckless few years behind him.

The lightning-quick winger will divide his time between playing time for the Dukes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Soccer Conference and studying for a degree in finance.

The college soccer system has some impressive success stories including USA internationals Clint Dempsey and Brad Friedel, both of whom enjoyed long careers in the English top flight.

The scholarship is worth $500,000, but for that price, the universities also demand capability in the classroom as well as athletic excellence.

Forrester said: “I have two options. Either I progress into football in the MLS (Major League Soccer) or maybe somewhere else.

“Or in the worst case scenario I get a degree under my belt at a top university in America which is not the worst thing in the world.

“There is a lot of money being pumped into US football because they did so well in the World Cup so it’s a good time for me to go.”

The MLS is among the fastest-growing leagues in world football with many international stars including Andrea Pirlo, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard this season joining established players such as World Cup winners David Villa and Kaka.

And with David Beckham’s growing involvement in the American game, Forrester believes young European talent will soon be lured across the Atlantic to supplement the ageing stars.

“There is going to be a time in the next two or three years when something major is going to happen in American soccer,” he added.

“I feel like I’m going just as things are about to kick off over there.”

Forrester played youth football for Mowbray Rangers and Melton Foxes before choosing Coventry City’s academy over his beloved Leicester City at the age of 12.